


Blaster Bolts and Banter

by LessAttitudeMoreAltitude



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: And a bit of humor, Pre-Star Wars: Rebels, bashing bucketheads, commission, some bro bonding time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 09:33:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19170541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LessAttitudeMoreAltitude/pseuds/LessAttitudeMoreAltitude
Summary: Kanan and Zeb learn to work together to fight Imperial stormtroopers





	Blaster Bolts and Banter

**Author's Note:**

> This is a commission for Opalknight on Tumblr
> 
> I've started a Ko-Fi account (https://ko-fi.com/L3L4WP9B), and I'm currently taking commissions! 500 words for every $3 for up to 1500 words. Currently only doing Rebels and non-fandom works. Just give me your tumblr handle or email and a description of what you want.

“Up there!” Kanan pointed to a door. “That should lead to Bay Three!”

They ran to it, and Kanan slammed his hand on the control panel. But as soon as the door opened, they were met with a wall of blaster fire.

“Karabast!” Zeb cursed, taking cover next to the door. “I thought you said this bay was supposed to be empty!”

“Well, obviously it isn’t!” Kanan barked back, taking a couple shots with his blaster pistol before taking cover again. “Either way, the Ghost is on the other side.”

 _Perfect_ , Zeb thought sarcastically. He was starting to regret teaming up with this ragtag crew. Sure, it was nice to have a reliable source of income, food, and his own quarters to sleep in, but he was half-convinced these kids had no idea what they were doing.

Zeb tried to shoot back, but his rifle was too big to shoot from this angle. He’d have to stuck his body out too far.

Kriff this. He twisted his bo-rifle to put it into melee mode and jumped into the fray.

“Zeb, _wait_!”

He ran straight through the blaster fire, swinging his bo-rifle at the closest stormtrooper. He went down with a strangled cry and Zeb didn’t even flinch before stepping over and swinging at the next one. These humans and their tiny reaches, relying solely on their stupid blasters. None of them ever seemed to have decent close combat experience. Made it even more fun to whack at them.

He was about to knock the last bastard down when the trooper was suddenly stunned. Zeb turned to see Kanan running towards him. “Will you be more careful?!” Kanan hissed.

“What? I had the entire situation under control.”

Kanan rolled his eyes. “You were _lucky_. If you keep running in like that, it’s only a matter of time before you get yourself shot. Stormtroopers are bad shots, but that’s no reason to give them a better target!”

“Well I wasn’t doing us any good just sittin’ back there!” Zeb growled.

A blaster bolt suddenly whizzed by their heads, and they both reflexively dove for cover. More blaster fire followed. Evidently the troopers had back-up. Zeb peaked out, trying to locate them.

Kanan was already popping up periodically to shoot at the newcomers. “We’re not gonna make progress just picking them off one by one!” Zeb shouted at him.

“Better than just running straight into the crossfire!” Kanan shouted back as he continued his agonizingly slow strategy.

“Kriff this…” Zeb mumbled, getting up to do just that.

“No!” Kanan was suddenly right next to him, gripping his arm and yanking him back down with slightly in-human strength. “I know you have a bit of a death wish, but now is REALLY not the time to live it out!”

“What do you know?” Zeb scowled.

“Look, we have a job to finish!” Kanan popped up to take another shot, barely glancing in the direction of the troopers. “Charging in by yourself is suicide, and you know it!”

Zeb scowled, holding up his bo-rifle in rifle form to start shooting. He was a good shot, but this certainly wasn’t his forte. Particularly not when he was this close. Distance and precision were more his form of shooting. He was one of two extremes: sniping or close quarters combat. He hated this in-between place. And it’s not like he had a reason to hide his true abilities like Kanan.

“Together,” Kanan suddenly said.

Zeb frowned at him. “What?”

“We’ll go in together,” Kanan said, shooting again without looking. “You flank from the left, I’ll flank from the right.”

Zeb grinned. It would confuse the troopers and make their aim even more erratic. And from personal experience, he knew Kanan was good in hand-to-hand combat. He gave a short nod. “Alright.”

Kanan returned the grin before they both turned and started to make their way to the far edges of the hanger. Zeb switched his bo-rifle back to melee, unable to keep his smirk of his face as the stupid bucketheads continued to shoot in the same direction. It was a miracle the Empire was able to get anything done with dumb foot soldiers like this lot.

He ran out with a shout, knocking out the two closest troopers with a single swipe. There was a stutter in the blaster fire, and Zeb could hear a couple more go down on the other side. Zeb let out a triumphant laugh as he knocked the troopers down, throwing one into the next.

Just as he was about to bat the last trooper into the next galaxy, the trooper suddenly dropped from a stunning blast. Kanan stood over him with a small smug smile. “Hey, that one was mine!” Zeb complained.

Kanan rolled his eyes. “What, are you keeping count?”

“Of course,” Zeb said easily. “Thirteen so far. That would have been my fourteenth!”

“This isn’t a competition!”

“Oh? Afraid you’d lose?”

A blaster bolt whizzed by them again, and they both dove for cover. The bolt had come from above. Zeb followed the trajectory and saw new troopers running in on a catwalk above them, well out of reach.

“Karabast…!” he cursed, once again putting his bo-rifle back into rifle mode. He didn't want to resort to just shooting at them, but they didn't really have much of a choice. Where did these troopers keep coming from?

A trooper was shot, and he fell over the edge with a sharp cry. Zeb looked over and saw Kanan aiming very carefully with his blaster pistol. Zeb would admit, Kanan was a natural sharpshooter. “Nice shot, kid!”

Kanan shot Zeb a quick glare. “Do not call me kid!”

Zeb scoffed, “Aye aye, Spectre One,” he said with a small drawl. It’s not like it was important. It was just hard for Zeb to adjust. Kanan might be a good shot, but he was still a kit from Zeb’s perspective. Had he been a Lasat, he’d barely be considered a full adult.

Another trooper was shot backward, letting out garbled grunt as he was stunned.

Zeb sighed, taking aim himself. He certainly wasn’t going to stand idly by and be shown up by this upstart, magical Jedi abilities or not.

Unfortunately, the troopers seemed to just keep on coming, and picking them off like this just wasn’t going to cut it. Zeb swore again. “We’re not gonna get outta here unless we can somehow get up there and _deal_ with them.”

“We could make a run for it…” Kanan glanced at the door at the other side of the bay. It was a large stretch with almost no cover. And there wasn’t anything nearby they could use as a makeshift shield. Even Zeb wasn’t that foolhardy.

So Zeb focused on firing, hoping that the seemingly unending supply of stormtroopers would eventually end.

“Throw me,” Kanan suddenly said.

Zeb frowned at him. “What?!”

“Throw me,” Kanan repeated, his expression completely serious. “You’re strong enough. And I can give myself a little boost.”

“And then let you have all the fun?” Zeb shook his head. “Why don’t you throw me with those powers of yours?”

“No one in their right mind would think I can _actually_ throw you!” Kanan said, exasperated. “And I’m trying _not_ to out myself and put a giant target on the Ghost!”

Zeb sighed, not really seeing an alternative. “Alright, fine!” He strapped his bo-rifle to his back before positioning himself in a crouch. He lowered his arms and cupped his hands together for Kanan to step on.

Kanan took a deep breath as he put away his blaster and got ready to run. “On three?”

Zeb gave a single nod. “One…”

“Two…”

“Three!” Kanan ran to Zeb, stepping on his hands before Zeb heaved him into the air with a shout.

Kanan went flying, well beyond the height that Zeb could throw him on his own, but these troopers were too stupid to know that. Kanan kicked the closest trooper down as he landed on the catwalk, then immediately went into a flurry of moves as he disarmed and knocked out the troopers, tearing through them like flimsi.

Zeb had to admit, it was impressive to watch.

Once the troopers were dealt with, Zeb took this chance to start running across the hanger. “How do you intend to get down?” Zeb shouted up at Kanan.

Without missing a beat, Kanan flung himself over the edge, falling what had to be at least forty meters to the ground, landing in a graceful crouch near Zeb. He quickly got up and ran alongside the Lasat.

Zeb scoffed. “Show off…”

Kanan just smirked.

They made it across the back, and the Ghost was waiting for them, hovering and firing at the local patrol craft. It’s ramp was lowered, so Zeb and Kanan easily jumped on. “We’re here, let’s go!” Kanan said into the comm.

The Ghost pulled up and started their escape, the ramp closing behind them. “ _Everything go alright?_ ” Hera asked.

Kanan and Zeb were panting as they shared a glance and a smile. “Yeah… It went alright,” Kanan affirmed.

Zeb chuckled. Maybe working with this ragtag crew wasn’t a mistake after all.


End file.
